But the Michigan Department of Natural Resources on Friday expressed concerns with the roadkill bill now headed to the House, suggesting the proposal could make it easier for residents to hunt wild turkey out of season -- using a car or truck.

"Turkeys tend to move at a leisurely pace and, if hit, would do little to no damage to a vehicle," deputy public information officer Debbie Munson Badini said in an email.

"This puts them at risk of being targeted by motorists who want to bring home a free wild turkey dinner. The bill does not require someone to report this type of take, so investigation of these types of situations would be virtually impossible."

Senate Bill 613, sponsored by state Sen. Darwin Booher (R-Evart), seeks to simplify and speed up the process of claiming roadkill.

Instead of waiting to obtain a salvage tag from a law enforcement or conservation officer, a resident could take home roadkill after calling in large game or writing down the details of a small game find.

The bill contains a provision that would prohibit individuals from taking home roadkill intentionally hit by a motor vehicle, but enforcement could be difficult if an officer is not required to visit the scene.

The legislation specifically excludes several animal types -- including crows, bear cubs, geese and wolf -- and the DNR wants to see wild turkey added to that list in order to "help prevent intentional take of turkey with a vehicle from becoming a more prevalent issue."

Booher, who hails from a small rural town of roughly 1,900 residents in Osceola County, said he introduced the bill after personally hitting 11 deer since 2004. He's concerned the tag process discourages motorists from cleaning up carcasses that might otherwise rot on the side of the road.

"It seemed to me what people can use to eat, that's great. What they want to use for a composting pile, that's fine. If it's off the road, the whole state will be better off for it," Booher said last week after his bill sailed through the Senate.

"It gets government out of it a little bit too. It costs a lot of money to have road commissions go out there and track it, so I think it will save government money and simplifies the process."

The DNR, which is officially neutral on the bill and believes it has been improved since introduction, would also prefer that individuals obtain a fur harvesting license before collecting small game roadkill.

Doing so would "discourage individuals from trapping an animal and then making it appear to have been hit by a vehicle, or profiting economically by intentionally hitting an animal and then selling its pelt, since these animals would count toward their legal bag limit," Badini said.

As of February, the average going rate for a raccoon pelt was $14.65, beaver $28.75, coyote $46.53, otter $85, and bobcat $141.67, according to the department. A fur harvester license costs $15.

Many animal species, such as squirrel or other small rodents, can already be picked up without a salvage tag. Current restrictions apply only to game species regulated by the DNR and are designed to discourage out-of-season poaching.

"It appears that the unintended consequences of the bill may have much farther reaching effects than was the purpose and intent of the bill," Badini said.

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter.